Katherine

We were very excited to cross into the Northern Territory! None of us had ever been to this part of Australia and it was a big moment! Of course nothing of the countryside changed but that didn’t matter. We had crossed a milestone!

We took pictures and then travelled on to Katherine as it was Friday and we wanted to get in before sunset. What we had completely forgotten about, however, was the time difference. We were going to stay at the SDA Church property there and had told the pastor that we would be there around 5.30, which was true if we had have stayed on WA time, however we got there just before 7pm. It was an embarrassing moment.

We spent Sabbath at the church there and the Pastor’s sermon was all about the story of Jeannie Gunn who wrote the book “We of the Never Never”. She married a station owner and left Melbourne to live with him on a station in Mataranka (South of Katherine). At that time of Australian history there was very little service lines that far north and to live there was extremely difficult, especially when it came to medical services. Malaria was rife and people would die from blackwater fever, which is a complication of malaria.

Jeannie wrote of her time there and wrote of her friendship with a little Aboriginal girl who she called her “little black princess”. The little girl was named Bet Bet. Jeannie wrote a book about her and it became well known, however the little girl seemed to vanish into history. It was only when this little girl was mother herself and joined the SDA church in her 40’s did she reveal to the world that she was Bet Bet, the little black princess from the famous book. She wrote her own book called “Talking with the Stars” where she writes about her life and how she came to know Jesus Christ.

That night we watched “We of the Never Never” with the very hospitable people from Katherine SDA church. We intend to visit Mataranka and learn more of its history when we pass through on the way to QLD.

Sabbath was a very interesting day. There were many children there and many of them were Aboriginal children being cared for by foster parents. There were many Fijian carers and it was very eye opening seeing them all there and talking with the carers and spending time with the kids.

Edith Falls

On Sabbath afternoon we went to visit Edith Falls. This was a very tranquil and beautiful place! We got to see a water monitor sunning itself on a rock and got to see it swim away when Ezra got too close to it! It was very graceful in the water.

Katherine Hot Springs

The Sunday we were there we went to visit the Hot Springs which we literally walking distance from where we were staying.

We had a lot of fun there. The hot springs start at a big pool of water and then the river runs along for quite a way with waterfalls and little pools along the way. The river is neck high at its deepest, but mostly about waist high. There was a little spot for the kids to play in.

We first went to the beginning of the springs where some Aboriginal kids were swinging on a rope swing and dropping into the pool. It looked very easy and very fun. So we all had a try, except it was not easy and it did not end up being that fun! I (Catherine) slipped off the rope swing and belly flopped into the water and Hadassah slipped off the rope before even swinging out over the water and landed on the rocks. We decided to leave the rope swinging to the experts and continued exploring down the river. Fortunately our injuries were only minor!

Further down the river at the end of our time there the kids decided to slide down a muddy embankment, again following the lead of the local kids. This time they all started to itch everywhere and there was a lot of jumping around and trying to wash off in the hot springs. Unfortunately this did not help matters and their discomfort only got worse and turned into tears and wailing. We thought it was time to head home, which we did along with the tears and the wailing. A fellow tourist coming towards us felt pity for them and said “Oh Dear, I know that song, that’s the blues!”. They failed to see the humor.

Once we got them back to the caravan and hosed them down we discovered they were covered in these very tiny, minuscule little mites which were biting them. It took some time for peace to reign again!

Overall an awesome place to visit! We did end up going there again later that evening and avoided the muddy embankment.

We took more videos than photos at this place which will be uploaded at some point.

We did not go to visit Katherine Gorge while we were there as it is best visited via a boat tour and you can’t go in with your own car to walk it.